Buck and Christopher must do all they can to survive the aftermath of a massive tsunami, while waiting for the first responders to get to them. Meanwhile, the 911 call center staff cope with the burden of too many callers they can't save, and Athena has to muster survivors of a massive highway accident to aid one another since the city's usual first responders have been diverted to the pier disaster.
As everyday life on the Santa Monica Pier goes about as normal, everyone soon notices something ominous, the Pacific Ocean tide has receded so much that the seabed is exposed. Then the Harbormaster sees something that causes him to hit the Tsunami Siren Alarm button as a massive tidal wave is heading for the beaches and the pier. As the members of LAFD Station 136, along with Buck, scream for everyone to run for their lives, Buck takes refuge in a prize booth with Christopher as the tsunami overwhelms the pier and beaches. Buck survives, rescues Chris, and takes refuge on Engine 136 from the flood waters that have inundated a good chunk of Santa Monica and Los Angeles.
Twenty Minutes Before First Wave
Athena leaves a salon with her daughter May, before they end up in a traffic pileup. Elsewhere, Station 118 is dealing with a call when they notice the road flooded. Bobby assumes it is a hydrant left open, before one of the crew gets a Tsunami Warning alert on his cellphone. Athena and May escape their wrecked car, and when one driver says she can't reach 911 as she's on hold right now, May finds to her horror that there's been a tsunami at the Santa Monica Pier, leaving Athena also horrified. At Parker Center, 911 calls flood in, and Maddie is with one guy who is trapped in his attic and can't escape, staying with him until he drowns and the call fails.
LAPD and LAFD begin to gather their forces to begin the rescue efforts, with the 118 preparing to head out in the Zodiacs, while Buck and Christopher remain stranded on Engine 136, with Buck going back into the waves to rescue other survivors using the gear from the engine to retrieve them and bring them to the engine to regroup until help arrives. The news reports that the tsunami was caused by a 8.9-magnitude earthquake off Alaska, and Maddie continues to struggle helping victims along with her fellow dispatchers as calls keep coming in and they struggle to handle all of them.
The 118 head out in the Zodiacs and locate a boat that had been just off-shore of the Santa Monica Pier when the tsunami hit, and find both the son and husband critically injured with a radio station tower impaled through both of them and the ship's hull, making it nearly impossible to free them because of the circumstances.
As the wife/mother pleads for the 118 to save her husband and son, the father begs them to save his son and leave him behind, but Bobby makes it clear they are both being saved that day. After freeing the son, Bobby goes underwater to free the father, but it is nearly ruined by another surge from the tsunami coming in. Athena meanwhile helps at the pileup, warning everyone she's the only help they're getting at the moment because of the tsunami in Santa Monica tying up reinforcements, and tries to help a critically-wounded female driver with May's help. As for one uninjured driver who was complaining about being rear-ended, he gets zapped when flood waters come through the storm drains and become electrified by the downed transformer, going down like a sack of potatoes, foaming at the mouth as his body seizes from electrocution. May nearly follows before Athena orders her to stay with the critical victim until it is safe to do so.
Back with the 118, they have to resort to CPR when the father stops breathing while Bobby works to free him. After several failed efforts, they get a pulse back just as Bobby frees him, and the father is soon MEDEVAC'ed with his son to the hospital before the 118 are called to the remains of the Santa Monica Pier to help with rescue there. Athena reaches 911 and requests an L.A. DPW crew to turn off the power, but all the DPW crews are busy elsewhere. Meanwhile, despite May's efforts, the critical victim begins to pass out from blood loss, but May does her best to keep her conscious. Finally, a black-and-white shows up with a DPW crewman to cut the power, and LAFD arrive, but the victim appears to have passed out and died in May's arms by the time Athena reaches her. However, the paramedics report that they've got a pulse, and May collapses in relief that the victim will live as Athena comforts her.
At Parker Center, calls continue to come in as Maddie helps coordinate the efforts when Chimney calls her to report on the situation with the hospitals and needs a triage area, with Maddie suggesting the decommissioned VA hospital for the triage area. Back on Engine 136, Buck continues to keep Christopher entertained with playing "I Spy" with him and discussing some of his own past, when some of the other survivors spot a lifeless body in the water. Buck draws Christopher's attention until it drifts past. Parker Center has support of the L.A. Deputy Mayor with using the VA hospital as a triage area.
The 118 head out in the Zodiacs to what's left of the Santa Monica Pier, passing under the famous sign as they approach the Ferris Wheel to rescue everyone trapped on it, or clinging to it for safety, including the survivors from Station 136. Back with Buck and Christopher, they continue to talk and show their affection for each other, but Parker Center sees that the tsunami is receding, and this causes more trouble, leading to where on Engine 136, as Buck tries to help more survivors, Christopher is knocked into the water when the engine rocks and throws him off into the drink, to Buck's horror. Buck frantically tries looking for him, but it appears there is no sign of him, causing Buck to fear the worst...
To Be Continued
Tropes featured in the episode:
- Asshole Victim: The guy at the traffic pile-up who keeps insisting Athena write up the other driver who'd rear-ended him, rather than continue aiding the many injured crash victims. He steps in water near the downed transformer and is electrocuted.
- Big Disaster Plot: This episode revolves around a tsunami hitting Santa Monica Pier
- Cover Innocent Eyes and Ears: While Buck and Christopher are trapped on top of the firetruck after the tsunami, Buck plays "I Spy" and at one point has him look at the sky as a dead body floats by.
- Heroic Sacrifice: The harbormaster that protects Santa Monica Pier. Once he sees the tsunami, realizing he's already too late to escape it, he sounds the Red Alert to evacuate the pier and beaches, then braces himself against the wall under the windows and prepares to Face Death with Dignity, knowing that at least he tried to save some lives before the pier, beaches, and a good chunk of Santa Monica and L.A. are inundated by the massive tidal wave.
- Impaled with Extreme Prejudice: The father and son from the boat that was washed ashore by the tsunami are skewered together by a radio tower that also punched through the boat's hull, pinning them together with no way to free them without desperate measures or a clever way from the 118 to free them both.
- Mass "Oh, Crap!": The pier when they hear the Tsunami Siren and see the surge of Pacific salt water surging towards them, leading to a mass panic in trying to flee and get to higher ground.
- Real Life Writes the Plot: Because of the Pacific Ring of Fire due to tectonic plates, and the San Andreas Fault, a tsunami hitting the Santa Monica Pier is a real-life fear that could happen any day.
